Marriage/Divorce

Yemen Could Seize Moment to Ban Child Marriage

By Nadya Khalife

WeNews commentator

Friday, December 16, 2011

Now that Yemen's Saleh has agreed to cede power, Nadya Khalife says it's time to remember the country's girls who are being forced into marriage. The practice dooms many young women and should be stopped as part of the transitional reform process.

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Lifelong Damage

The damage from child marriage can last a lifetime, as I found interviewing women and girls for Human Rights Watch's Dec. 8 report on the subject.

Girls and women told me that their families forced them into marriage, offering no choice in the matter. Some said they had been subjected to marital rape and domestic violence. They had no control over whether and when to bear children. These were girls who enjoyed school and aspired to become doctors, lawyers and journalists. But marriage cut their dreams short.

Child marriage also exposes young girls to health risks associated with early pregnancy and childbirth.

Yemen has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the Middle East, estimated in 2010 at 210 deaths per 100,000 live births. Complications from pregnancy are the leading cause of death for young women between 15 and 19, according to the World Health Organization. Girls and teens between the ages of 10 and 14 are five times as likely to die when they give birth as women between 20 and 24.

Many families expect girls to become pregnant soon after marriage. But these girls often do not have information about reproductive health or access to obstetric services.

Girls who marry early are more likely to have frequent and closely spaced pregnancies, placing their health at great risk, according to Save the Children.

Funding Strategies

With the crisis in Yemen, many donors are revisiting their funding strategies. It is likely that some programs may be cut or the amounts of funding may significantly decrease.

USAID, in its 2009-2012 strategic plan for Yemen, supported programs to raise awareness among religious leaders about the negative social and health consequences of child marriage. As the agency develops strategic plans for the post-Saleh Yemen, it should emphasize these priorities.

U.S.-supported programs for training teachers and teaching literacy should make a special effort to include married girls and women. The United States should also support additional programs that lift barriers to girls' education; safe transportation, for example, to and from school would provide a good incentive to parents to let their daughters finish their education.

The United States can also disseminate much-needed health information to girls and women in a variety of formats, including on television and radio for those who cannot read.

Traditional practices often resist change, but the political transition offers an opportunity to the country's new leaders to act on this vital social and human rights issue. It will take political will and moral courage. And international partners should keep girls like Nujood at the top of their priorities as they design their assistance for Yemen.

Nadya Khalife is the Middle East women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, based in Beirut, Lebanon, and an author of the organization's new report, "How Come You Allow Little Girls to Get Married?": Child Marriage in Yemen."

Equality/Women’s Rights

Let us wish, hope, meditate and pray that this may be accomplished, that the girls of Yemen are not married before the age of consent, and are not forced to choose their mate according to any wishes other than their own, that the age of consent in Yemen is at least 18 years old, that when a girl reaches age 18 she is not pressured to choose marriage before all other choices, and that personal independence in the form of jobs and education are as available to her as they are to 18 year old boys in Yemen.
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